Is a Philippine Detroit possible? Checking out Industriepolitik

Posted by Irineo B. R. Salazar on April 22, 2026 · 3 Comments 

My previous article mentioned Michael Jackson’s father and his frustration with the factory. The Philippines barely has factories: unlike Motown aka Detroit, it never built the industrial base that turns working people into a middle class. That is why the majority of Filipinos live in precarity, and why the poorest remain truly destitute. So I … Continue reading →

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The only way for the Philippines is forward

Posted by Irineo B. R. Salazar on July 17, 2025 · 138 Comments 

The Dalian trains are finally being put to use on the MRT-3 after ten years, having been kept from being used by pettiness. After two rants, I have something nicer to say about the Philippines. There are people there now who understand building on what is already there. Marcos Jr. following the 1987 Constitution, or … Continue reading →

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Spaced out dreams and AI fiction

Posted by Irineo B. R. Salazar on April 14, 2025 · 194 Comments 

It wasn’t Kidlat Tahimik‘s first movie I watched as a teen that brought me to Munich nearly 30 years ago. Maybe it was the science fiction I read as a teen that primed my dreams of being in the tech scene. Or was it the sense of having grown up in a country that “only” … Continue reading →

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What lies ahead?

Posted by Irineo B. R. Salazar on January 6, 2025 · 71 Comments 

2025 will be a difficult year for many countries. As this blog’s focus is the Philippines, the question is what to expect there for this year. Some of these questions are important and serious. Some just happen to be my part of what I am observing or are food for thought. Let us question the … Continue reading →

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Creating Opportunities in the Philippines

Posted by Irineo B. R. Salazar on October 3, 2024 · 158 Comments 

Joe wrote an article almost a decade ago describing opportunity as an energy untapped in the Philippines. Ambition is indeed a bad word for many Filipinos, somehow equating opportunity with opportunism. Some see OFWs who go abroad as modern “bayani,” somehow similar to warriors of precolonial Philippines who raided and traded, bringing home the bacon. … Continue reading →

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